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The royal wedding

Interesting article that kinda sums things up. I have not been as anti-royal as I once was, however I'm not stupid enough to not see the the difference between the haves and have nots and how the latter are firmly kept in their place whilst the former pretend the gap is somehow inexistent

Oh, how the monarchy is modernising! Look at lovely, jokey Harry with his openness about mental health and his glowing fiancee, who astonishingly has had a life, is not a dumb blonde and says things about female independence. Oh, how they have moved on, this new generation of royals. They are just like us, after all.

Except they are not. So the latest news about the commoners invited to the royal wedding is really stunning in its declaration of who’s who and what’s what. Kensington Palace (probably using the retch-inducing phrase “reach out”) announced earlier this year that Meghan and Harry were going “to allow members of the public to join in their celebration”. Very special people representing “youth” and “diversity” and – whisper it quietly – poor people would be allowed inside the perimeter of Windsor Castle. This is not just a wedding, remember, this is an attempt to build a bridge between high society and well … society.

Twelve-hundred hand-picked “ordinary” people, many from charities that the royals support, will be let into the castle’s grounds. They will be there for hours and hours, and yet, it seems, they will not get so much as a vol-au-vent. Those who work with deprived and alienated people have been advised in letters from lord lieutenants “to bring a picnic lunch as it will not be possible to buy food and drink on site”. What? What kind of invite is that?

It’s one that absolutely makes clear what is happening. That’s what. It never had anything to do with altruism. These ordinary people will effectively be extras for the TV coverage. They’ll make up a crowd that will be beamed around the world. The royals’ net wealth is estimated at around £400m – but now let us bow down before our rulers and hope that a garage sandwich will tide us over. Oh, I know it is not a good time to be a republican but quite honestly it never is. No one can begrudge the Queen, no one can’t admire the loveliness of Meghan, and on it goes. Only that kind of thinking is how this fountainhead of inequality is always made palatable.

I once refused to go to a wedding because there was a pay bar as well as one of those irritating wedding lists. So I am not a great one for a pay-as-you-go celebrations. I can’t see it as anything other than meanness. Have a party or don’t. These occasions are actually very boring for spectators: hours of waiting around for a fleeting glimpse of a gloved hand as it speeds past. I was in the cathedral for Diana’s funeral, and on the way there we went past the crowds who had been sleeping in the street overnight. Weirdly, I was at Windsor for Harry’s father’s “low-key” wedding to Camilla, hoping, I suppose, for the ghost of Diana to appear. The crowds were quite sparse but had their flags to wave. What makes people wait for hours to do this, I remember asking a bored policeman. “We call them cat-stranglers,” he said. I didn’t know what that meant. “Women so mad they strangle their own cats,” he informed me.

Now, though, the royalist media will go into overdrive and there will be a lot of reverential dross about protocol and etiquette. Debrett’s advises at least six canapes per guest before a wedding lunch. Harry and Meghan’s 600 actual guests will get the works, but the people chosen because they serve the most vulnerable in their communities will be left milling about for hours and are now Googling Windsor for the nearest supermarkets.

As a metaphor for inclusivity royal-style, though, it’s all perfect, isn’t it? Do please come and gawp and cheer, but bring your own sandwiches. The meanness of the super-rich is truly something to behold. Twenty-one-year-old Saeed Atcha told the Guardian that the news made him wonder if he should go to a nearby McDonald’s, but he wasn’t sure whether he’d be allowed to bring in a filet meal. He set up a magazine in Bolton after the 2011 riots and talked of the bemusement of some of the disadvantaged people his charity helps that the royals will scarcely offer invitees a drink. “It’s unfathomable,” he said. Not really, it’s the monarchy. Same as it ever was.

i was at windsor for harry’s father’s “low-key” wedding to camilla, hoping, i suppose, for the ghost of diana to appear. The crowds were quite sparse but had their flags to wave. what makes people wait for hours to do this, i remember asking a bored policeman. “we call them cat-stranglers,” he said. I didn’t know what that meant. “women so mad they strangle their own cats,” he informed me.

lmfao

Fúckin clubs are fúckin dull the fúckin pubs are fúckin full
Of fúckin girls and fúckin guys with fúckin murder in their eyes

Those who work with deprived and alienated people have been advised in letters from lord lieutenants “to bring a picnic lunch as it will not be possible to buy food and drink on site”. What? What kind of invite is that?

One that is designed to make Harry Hewitt seem like a "man of the people" and which simultaneously lets those people know what their actual place is. i wouldn't go if I was offered a 3 course meal let alone if i was told to bring my own lunch. These people will turn up feeling that they are being honoured in some way but in reality they are a publicity stunt brought to you by Royal Family PLC.

That family is worth an estimated £400 mill and this is the way they treat people. I fukking hate the royals.

They're gone, not here, forgotten
The maroon brigade now cry
The city is now Hibernian
The team that would not die

I can't abide Suzanne Moore. Her line about not going to a wedding because the couple didn't pay for drinks highlights exactly what she is; a modern part of the graduate intelligentsia that thinks it's better than the rest of us. The deepest irony is that she hasn't the self-awareness to realise that she's exhibited the exact snobbery she's indicting the Royals for.

But, yeah. $#@! the Royals.

It's the ugliest institution I can think of in a supposedly civilised country and, as I remarked to a French colleague, their approach to monarchy is one of the things I like most about France.

The BBC is contracted to produce a 'good news story about the royal family every day', Nicholas Witchel is part of the contract. The Monarch is the Head of the established Church of England. Some of the republican comments on this thread are seditious and threaten the fabric of UK life.
Therefore, I strongly advise boucers to refrain from abuse of UK royalty and their status.

The alternative is that you will be eating your recently purchased Tesco's snack outwith the Windsor walls.
This is some F!*!ing party.

The royal wedding

I don’t think Nicolas Witchell is the BBC’s Royal Correspondent any more. I think it’s Jonny Dymond who is much less sycophantic. In fact he was surprised as anyone when he got the job due to previous comments he had made.

Nicholas Witchell may come on as a sub but I think the BBC will play Hugh Edwards who is their Paul Hanlon - solid at the back.

Can't think of much worse things than settling down for the day to watch that nonsense. Last royal wedding I went to Carrick Shore for the weekend, by happy coincidence this Saturday I'm driving down there again for the day.

Well done Scotland though, the only pre-planned wedding party had to be cancelled due to severe lack of interest.

I know nothing about the girl he's marrying, but I see tabloid media here and America have devised a plan to ruin his chance of walking his daughter down the aisle. Irrespective of opinions on the royal family, concocting a situation that leads to that is heartless.

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As a republican, I would rather eat my own $#@!e than have any part in this royalist pish. ****s are getting married same day as I did tae, the pricks. Me and the Mrs will be oot eating and drinking ignoring the rich, but hoping for a Celtc win in the cup final.

I'm neither here nor there with regard to the royals...I can just never quite understand the fascination with them particularly in England. The media down there look at them as if they are their own family. Hope they enjoy their wedding.

"I can't stress enough how important it is to be in possession of the football - it is better to be the matador rather than the bull"

Ben Shepherd on TV this morning, wanted the big screens at both finals tomorrow to show the wedding on the big screens at Hampden/Wembley 'because everyone there will be watching the wedding on their phones anyway'

Shepherd seems alright, likes football, normal enough guy...but if that's the mindset of your average English guy, we're $#@!in doomed as a species.

Ben Shepherd on TV this morning, wanted the big screens at both finals tomorrow to show the wedding on the big screens at Hampden/Wembley 'because everyone there will be watching the wedding on their phones anyway'

Shepherd seems alright, likes football, normal enough guy...but if that's the mindset of your average English guy, we're $#@!in doomed as a species.

Ben Shepherd on TV this morning, wanted the big screens at both finals tomorrow to show the wedding on the big screens at Hampden/Wembley 'because everyone there will be watching the wedding on their phones anyway'

Shepherd seems alright, likes football, normal enough guy...but if that's the mindset of your average English guy, we're $#@!in doomed as a species.

Hey Mark,

Presuming we saw the same one - it was a tweet of a news story from the last one (Baldie and the baby machine).

Thing is if you are right about the average Englishman surely we wouldnt keep seeing the same pair of fruitcake freaks on every news report on the latest mariage? Ive no idea who Ben Shepard is, but seems like hes just part of this circle of the media feeding the media about it.

Ive been down and no one Ive spoken too has even mentioned it, so I surmise they dont give a $#@!. May just be my circles though. This is the most I have thought or said about it.

It is getting a little bit of TV coverage on the news here, just before the "cat stuck up a tree" story. Actually it was sandwiched between a dog rescued off the freeway this morning and a soldier reunited with a dog they had rescued in Iraq. A live feed from the venue with a reporter in a fancy hat. I wasn't paying too much attention but there was some excitement about how much the wedding was adding to the local economy, the souvenirs etc. Very few people have broached the subject with me but I have heard of a couple of people who will be up at 4:00am to watch.

As a republican, I would rather eat my own $#@!e than have any part in this royalist pish. ****s are getting married same day as I did tae, the pricks. Me and the Mrs will be oot eating and drinking ignoring the rich, but hoping for a Celtc win in the cup final.

Vive la Republic!

Im sure Well will play gallantly but inevitably cave in against Scotlands' other institution. The media will fawn over the all conquering establishment team and we can all play spot the saltire in the tic end.

Im sure Well will play gallantly but inevitably cave in against Scotlands' other institution. The media will fawn over the all conquering establishment team and we can all play spot the saltire in the tic end.

Vive le Republic indeed

My preference is simple, Celtc win, Hibs get in Europe. We deserve that.

Otherwise I may have been in the Well end with my SS pals, the offer was there.

Ben Shepherd on TV this morning, wanted the big screens at both finals tomorrow to show the wedding on the big screens at Hampden/Wembley 'because everyone there will be watching the wedding on their phones anyway'

Shepherd seems alright, likes football, normal enough guy...but if that's the mindset of your average English guy, we're $#@!in doomed as a species.

Pretty weird the fawning over the Royals. Almost as weird as the irrational hatred others have.

Can't say I'll be watching the wedding, although I'll probably gawp at the 'scenes' on the news.

I didn't knock back invitations to have some scran at their expense, but I'd balk at having to actually pay to have a bit of scoff in their company.

Still, if it keeps folk entertained and gives them someone to doff their caps to that can't be a bad thing eh.

Still, if it keeps folk entertained and gives them someone to doff their caps to that can't be a bad thing eh.

I actually think it is, to be totally honest.

It's a stark reminder, if any were needed, that the importance of birth is firmly entrenched in this country. How intelligent, industrious, talented or imaginative you are doesn't matter; what matters is what family you were born into, because that'll have the biggest impact on your future.

We could all work for 100 years and still not be able to afford what's going to be given to these two for free over the course of today. And I don't mean each, I meant if we all worked and then pooled our wages together. Possibly incorporating a whip round. And a crowdfunder. The rumour is that today's soiree is costing around £32,000,000 of taxpayer's money.

In short, this 'entertainment' is celebrating everything that's wrong with modern society.

It's a stark reminder, if any were needed, that the importance of birth is firmly entrenched in this country. How intelligent, industrious, talented or imaginative you are doesn't matter; what matters is what family you were born into, because that'll have the biggest impact on your future.

We could all work for 100 years and still not be able to afford what's going to be given to these two for free over the course of today. And I don't mean each, I meant if we all worked and then pooled our wages together. Possibly incorporating a whip round. And a crowdfunder. The rumour is that today's soiree is costing around £32,000,000 of taxpayer's money.

In short, this 'entertainment' is celebrating everything that's wrong with modern society.

Just my view.

I can't disagree with any of your points - social class is indeed a major factor in determining your likely success in life, although there are some of us working class folk who have clawed our way out of the hoi polloi.

My post was simply a knee jerk reaction based on my bemusement that so many people (and loads of the folk most exploited by the hooray henry gang) seem to be so desperate to celebrate such a non event.